KHYRPOOR PEIMA DONNA. 67 



indeed I may say all Sindhians, are passion- 

 ately fond ; and Kunchimnees, or professional 

 dancers, are to be found in every large toAvn. 

 To my thinking nothing can be more mono- 

 tonous than these exhibitions, of which I saw 

 a good many Avhen at Khyrpoor. That city 

 has always been celebrated, I believe, for its 

 danscuses. Burnes speaks of one, by name 

 Jewun Buksh, who possessed great beauty. 

 When I was there Ameer Buksh was the prima 

 donna of the Khyrpoor Opera ; the other ladies 

 of her Taeefa, or set, were Meena and Begum 

 Buksh, but Ameer Buksli was by far the hand- 

 somest of all. This lady was under the protec- 

 tion of Plote Singh, tlie Hindoo minister, or 

 Mooktyar Kar, of His Highness, but followed 

 her calling as a lady of the Opera just as usual. 

 The quantity of ardent spirits that the Kun- 

 chunnees swallow of an evening is something 

 astonishing. The appearance of these ladies is 

 not confined to evening parties, for on all 

 occasions of State Durbars, the Kunchunnees 

 take care to attend, and generally derive largess 

 when they do so. 



The Peers, Seyuds, and other 2:)retenders to 

 Moslem sanctity, arc tlic leeches who suck the 



